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The radio collars of six cheetahs at the Kuno National Park in Madhya Pradesh have been removed for their "health examination" by KNP veterinarians and experts from Namibia and South Africa, officials said on Monday.
Notably, five adult cheetahs and three cubs have died at KNP in Sheopur district of the state since March this year.
"So far, the radio collars of six cheetahs have been removed by KNP veterinarians and experts from Namibia and South Africa on the ground of health examination," an official release said.
Madhya Pradesh's chief wildlife warden Aseem Shrivastava said a total of 11 cheetahs (six male and five female) are currently inside the boma (enclosure) and efforts are on to bring four more to the boma for their health examination.
"We are carrying out this entire operation under the guidance of our veterinarian team and experts from Namibia and South Africa, he told PTI.
He said the radio collars of only those cheetahs are being removed whose health examination is necessary under the guidance of the team of veterinarians.
When asked about the reason behind the removal of radio collars, Shrivastava said, "It is entirely in the domain of the team and everything is being done as per their guidance."
Queried on the likely cause behind the cheetah fatalities in KNP, he said, "I have no information as I have not seen their reports. It has not yet come to me from there (KNP)."
He said all the cheetahs are healthy.
The cheetahs whose radio collars have been removed are identified as Gourav, Shourya, Pavan, Pavak, Asha and Dheera, the release said.
"For the purpose of health examination by the veterinary team of Kuno along with experts from Namibia and South Africa, radio collars of six cheetahs have been removed," stated the official release issued on Saturday.
Under Project Cheetah, a total of 20 radio-collared animals were imported from Namibia and South Africa to KNP.
Later, four cubs were born to the Namibian cheetah 'Jwala'.
Out of these 24 felines, eight including three cubs have died.
However, officials are not counting the lone surviving cub among the cheetahs. According to them, the current number of cheetahs in KNP is 15.
On July 16, the environment ministry said five out of the 20 adult cheetahs brought from Namibia and South Africa died due to natural causes and media reports attributing the deaths to factors like radio collars were based on "speculation and hearsay without scientific evidence".
The ministry also said several steps have been planned to support the cheetah project, including the establishment of a Cheetah Research Center with facilities for rescue, rehabilitation, capacity building, and interpretation.
On July 20, the Supreme Court said the death of eight cheetahs in the KNP in less than one year doesn't present a "good picture", and asked the Centre to not make it a prestige issue and explore the possibility of shifting the animals to different sanctuaries.